Glass Ball
by Curiosity
Summary: It's been four years, and Sarah finds herself listening to a seemingly familiar singer at a nightclub...


Author's Note: Aww, it's a Sarah-Jareth fluff-sap fic! Surprisingly enough, I didn't write angst this time! *The peasants rejoice at not having to buy 16 tissue boxes for half a fic again* This is a follow-up taking place when Sarah is 19, four years after the end of the story. So put on "As the World Falls Down", and enjoy how it might be if Sarah got another chance to see Jareth at thirteen-o-clock, just one more time.

Glass Ball

__

"You have no power over me!" The clock struck thirteen, and the illusion shattered into millions of pieces, carrying the girl and her half-brother back to their house on the wave of a dream. When the girl awoke the next morning, she vividly remembered remarkable and strange occurrences from the night before. She had had an adventure- no, that wasn't it, it was only a fantastic dream, she told herself. I must shed such childish fantasies. Convincing herself that it was merely that, she catalogued it as such in her mind and continued her days much the same as before, but not, however, without weeping for the loss of her childhood and for what might have been had it all been real. Unaware that a snowy white owl observed her from its perch in a tree outside her window: waiting, and watching. The owl saw her tears, and sighed more than hooted softly as it flew off into the night.

~The End~

Why do I even come here? The girl sighed, running a hand through her below-shoulder-length wavy brown hair as she answered her own question. _Because I seem to have masochistic tendencies that attract me to places like this one... especially this one... anything that reminds me of the Und- _she paused, rephrasing her sentence. _Of that place and the brief time I spent there, of the friends I made, who most of my dorm-mates would deem 'imaginary friends'... as if a 19 year old girl would still have imaginary friends, _she laughed to herself, but there was no humor in the sound. _No, a more likely explanation would be that I've gone insane, or that I dreamed it all. Neither of which are the truth- at least I don't think I've gone schizophrenic, but sometimes I do wonder if I dreamed it all, even the infrequent visitations in my mirror- not that anyone cares. Anyone but me, that is. _College freshman Sarah Williams stood in a corner of the large dance floor of the club commonly referred to as "Labyrinth", partially because it was so popular that it was like working yourself through a maze just to weave your way through the people to get close to the stage. Sarah had learned not to try. It wasn't worth the mosh pit effect, and in the past four years since the incident her parents preferred to pretend had never happened, she had been diagnosed with a severe case of claustrophobia. _Which is insane, why I would be in a place like this and keep coming back..._ she tried to rationalize away what she knew to be the real reason she came back to the club night after night: the name, and the fact that it reminded her, more than anything else, of Him. _After all this time, I still can't bring myself to say His name, for fear of what might (or worse, might not) happen in result. _The one figure from that strange myriad of characters that she had not seen or felt in presence in four years yet remained on her mind the most of all, and the one she now realized that she had understood least. _He acted exactly like I would have expected an evil Goblin King to...he acted exactly the way I wanted him to! _

'I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me!' She'd said the words, hadn't she? Broken his hold over her- _I only pray I didn't kill- _no, she wouldn't think about that. He had to be alive somewhere. But he no longer held any power over her, so of course she wouldn't have seen him as she did the others- she had only to call on them and they would be there...that was it. She had never seen him because she had to want him to be there. There were so many times she'd wished he could have been there, but never dared voice it, too afraid she might have stripped him of his powers completely...or worse. _And it's not like he'd even have any reason to want to see me any more- I did ruin his game, after all. He has every reason to hate me. But he never wanted to play, did he? He did everything I asked him to, but it wasn't his choice-_

"Sarah! Have you heard?" An excited voice shook her out of thoughts. "Sa-rah!" The voice persisted, a bit put-out by her unresponsiveness. 

"Oh, hi, Lina." 

"You haven't been listening to a word I said, have you?" Sarah smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, I was...distracted, I guess. What haven't I heard?"

"Guess." A smug smile lurked around the edges of that pert mouth. 

"I'm sure you'll tell me anyway, so why not just skip the games and impart this drastically overwhelming news of such urgency that you had to rush away from your choice spot near center-stage and come all the way back here to tell me?" She teased, her curiosity admittedly piqued. The younger girl had that effect on her. Her eyes sparkled with a mysterious light.

"Well," Lina took a deep breath, proud to know something her older friend (by only half a year, but so much more mature they could be living in different galaxies) didn't. "I heard, from my very reliable sources, naturally, that the owner of the club is going to come out and sing tonight! Can you imagine?" She sighed dreamily. 

"I don't see the big deal right now...care to fill me in?"

"Well, for one thing, he's young," she emphasized. "I heard he's only, like, twenty-four, and drop-dead gorgeous." Lina swooned. "Tall dark and handsome, all that bit. Totally mysterious, sounds foreign, and-"

"Lina," Sarah interrupted patiently, "That's impossible. You can't be licensed to run a club like Labyrinth at 24! He's only just out of college, and there's no way he has that kind of influence..."she trailed off as Lina again provided a happy explanation.

"He pulled some strings, and apparently has connections in high places," she sounded impressed. "They say he's got a voice to die for. Sheer virtuoso," Her auburn-haired petite friend praised, literally bouncing with energy and excitement. "And he's going to sing! Here! Tonight! Special performance, one time only...whoop, gotta go! It's starting in, like, one minute! Wanna come with me? I've got great spots saved, right up at the front..." 

"No, that's okay. I'll be fine here."   
"Whatever." Lina shrugged and left, leaving Sarah alone again in her corner. She glanced mechanically at the clock, not really seeing, then did a double take. _Six minutes to one in the morning...the thirteenth hour. _The antique clock hanging from the curtains of the stage to count down to performance time was one minute away from performance time, and six away from striking thirteen-o-clock. Lina had explained to her how Labyrinth's owner had a taste for the eccentric, and rescued the clock with thirteen numbers from going in the garbage- a clock shop's mistake about to be trashed. Yet it still sent shivers up Sarah's spine every time she saw it. Once, she remembered having asked Lina if she believed in coincidences. Lina had shaken her head, replying that there were too many things that happened in the world that couldn't be explained to just be coincidence. Then, Lina had shocked Sarah with a question of her own. 

"This is going to sound stupid, but humor me, okay? Do you, by any stretch, believe in, well, you know, magic and goblins and- and things? I mean, really believe in them? Not like some people say they do, but they don't really... I do." She'd said quietly, then looked up at Sarah through her eyelashes. "You probably think I'm nuts, don't you?" Sarah had responded carefully at first.

"No, I..." Snapshots of the Labyrinth: Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus all flashed through her brain. "Yes, Lina, I do believe. I believe in magic, and goblins..." _after all, my baby brother almost was one, _"that they're real, but not to be tampered with. If anyone tells you it's not true, just know in your heart they're wrong. And most importantly," she went on fervently, "never make a wish unless you've thought through all the consequences! Because... you just might get what you ask for... So, yes, I believe. Really," she'd added at Lina's skeptic look. His face: burned in her mind for all eternity. His lips: expressive, contemplative, mesmerizing. His eyes: two contrasting colours like locked, frosted-over windows into his soul; the pain in them when she'd said the words. She forced levity to push back the emotions that threatened to overtake her. "After all, I once danced with the Goblin King!" Her voice broke a little on the last words. Sarah had thrown Lina a joking grin, and dropped the subject. Now she wondered why, out of all the things she could have told Lina about the Labyrinth, she had mentioned dancing with Him. _How stupid was that? The one slightly romantic thing that happened to me there, and I choose to bring that up! _She had to admit, though, it was one of her favorite memories of the Goblin King, and one of the most confusing, surpassed in importance only by that final confrontation in the Escher room...Sarah hated that scene, and stopped herself before she began dwelling on the consequences of her rash words. _They were the 'right' words, the correct ones..._she sighed. _Just not the ones I wish I'd said..._ "Well, anyway, thinking about -that- is stupid since I can't do anything to change it now," she decided, and refocused her attention on the stage, void of equipment or microphone. It was odd, she thought, one would at least think he'd want to project his voice... then she realized he didn't need to. She could hear the crowd starting up a chant: 

"We want to hear Labyrinth's manager sing! We want to hear Labyrinth's manager sing Right Now!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that all of a sudden the stage, which she could have sworn was empty a moment ago, was dimly lit, and a tall figure was standing on it. Sarah studiously inspected the head of the person in front of her as she listened to him captivate his audience as no other group had ever done before. The room full of partiers hushed, dying down into a murmur, then nothing. The silence before he spoke was almost tangible in the air, like a living thing. All at once, his voice flooded her ears, melodious and warm and cynical and frightening and mystifying all at the same time.

"You have summoned me, and I am here." There was a definite tone to that last statement, as if the audience needed reassurance that this wasn't just an illusion. 

__

Summoned him? Her heartbeat grew quicker as she remembered how she had summoned the Goblin King with the words "Right now!" _His voice sounds so familiar...it almost seems like he's speaking to me! But that's impossible. _She immersed herself in the crowd, fleeing her unfounded apprehension, and decided to look at the man on stage. She slowly brought her gaze up from the floor. His long silver-blonde hair was pulled back in a low ponytail with a few strands hanging loose, and he was wearing jeans and a tight black sleeveless shirt with a red leather jacket thrown carelessly over one shoulder. In his hand he fingered a glass ball, rolling it deftly in his fingers. 

"I note your attention is drawn to the glass ball in my hand. As it happens, that is also the name of the song I have written expressly for this occasion." Without warning, he tossed it out into the audience. It sailed over the heads of the scrambling fans, far into the crowd. Unaware that she was doing so, it seemed that Sarah cupped her hand, and she caught it. Or, rather, it fell into her hand. She clasped it tightly in her fingers, reminding herself that he could have gotten it anywhere, and yes, coincidences did exist and no, this was not an omen that the Goblin King was anywhere about or had anything to do with this whatsoever. Yet the whole affair had the twinge of magic that was his signature and altogether too many so-called 'coincidences' to be anything but his work. _Impossible, _the practical part of her cried, but it was wanting conviction. _No, only improbable. And once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is the truth,_ a trace of her old self with an analytical edge countered. _Why don't I just shut up and listen to the music?_ She wholeheartedly agreed with that statement.

"I apologize if my voice is not in its perfect form. I haven't warmed up, and admittedly, I'm a little nervous." Laughter from the crowd. As if his performance could possibly be anything but spectacular. As the opening cords of the song began to play, seemingly from nowhere, Sarah realized that she recognized this melody. It was the opening to 'As the World Falls Down'. And then she had no more time to think about that, because he had started to sing.

"Once he was eternal;

Once he had

Everything

There was...

Except love." 

Unlike most ballads of its kind, this one was written in third person. It made her wonder, as surely it made the rest of the audience wonder, whom he was singing about. Female voices screamed in delight in response to the amazing voice pouring forth from the singer's lips. 

"Once he lived 

Without her;

Once he lived 

In total darkness.

Everything was perfect,

But he didn't have love."

__

His world was perfect, Sarah thought, remembering the carefully controlled kingdom. _Everything picturesque and regulated, even the Labyrinth. Why, when I first met Hoggle he was spraying for fairies, and I noticed others trimming the hedges surrounding it._

So you're finally admitting it was real, then, she seemed to hear a voice in her mind say. She couldn't deny it, as much as she tried to block them out, the memories of that time always came flooding back to her at all the wrong times.

"Then she walked beside him,

Came into 

The night that was his life.

How dare she enter his perfect world?"

__

Then I came, and ruined everything. I know how it must have felt, how it feels to have your perfectly controlled reign over a enclosed box that was your world intruded upon, and shattered just like that. My stepmother did that, when she captured my dad's heart and forced her way into the family. And then that night, when all my concepts of reality and impossibility changed instantly... Yes, I know the feeling all too well. Girls were swooning and fainting, their boyfriends catching them and stalking away angrily. The club's owner seemed slightly amused by the development, not missing a beat in his song.

"All she wanted was a dream to chase,

Running around in a dream-like trance.

She forced him to fit into 

Her childish concept of him."

__

It's true; when I entered the Labyrinth I was only a child, fifteen and clinging to fantasies and childish dreams. My flights of fancy, only encouraged by the surreal world I had entered. Wanting to act out a play, like I knew the script and I was the heroine, not fully realizing it wasn't like that at all. You can't just force people to fit into roles and type-cast them as what you wish. That's what I tried to do with the Goblin King. There I go, thinking of him as evil, when I was the one who forced him to act as the villain of my story. But it wasn't a stage! I know that now, only all too late. Hands were groping toward the stage, hoping for a touch of his hand. He was too immersed in his song to care much, as was the rest of the audience.

"This he knew 

About love:

That he could not 

Live within her heart-

Because she had no room

With all her fantasies."

The lyrics were starting to sound only too familiar, as if the writer had known that part of her life intimately, but from another's perspective. As if he had known what she was feeling now, a hindsight over the years that she couldn't share with anyone. _Because no one would understand. No one but... no. _She would not, couldn't bring herself to believe that. No matter how much she wanted to. The screams had stopped, and there was no motion from the crowd but a gentle swaying in time with the rhythm. It was amazing, almost like magic, Sarah thought. She had never seen anything like it before. _It's as if he has us all under his spell- wait a minute, spell? Magic?! _She abruptly realized that she could be putting herself into danger. 

"He fell right 

Into love.

Take off my mask-" 

"What?" Sarah whispered. "His mask..." She could recall all too clearly a time, seemingly a moment and a lifetime ago, that she had been surrounded by a room full of masked strangers, all except one. One person, who took off his mask- his disguise as a villain- only for her. _Why is he using first person? 'My?' _ "This is getting creepy, and way too familiar. I'm out of here," she muttered, turning her back to the stage and striding purposefully toward the door.

"Listen to me, _Sarah!_"

She whirled around abruptly. _I could have sworn I heard my name whispered on stage...but surely I'm only imagining things. I heard what I wanted to hear, no more. _She squared her shoulders and turned back toward the door.

"Please don't walk away,

Not when I've finally found you, love..." 

Weak-kneed, Sarah grabbed the nearest support beam and leaned her back against it, circling her arms around it backward so she didn't collapse. _I can't leave, can I? Whoever he is, he's trapped me with my own thoughts, and I have to stay until the song is over._ _I have no choice. No, that's not true. I'm getting paranoid over nothing. Don't ruin the song, Sarah. Don't be stupid and immature. Breathe. There's nothing strange going on here, only what you make of it. _She closed her eyes and listened.

"She was all he dreamed of,

Hoping she might

Feel the same 

For him." 

The singer seemed a bit taken aback by his own lyrics, as if he'd made a mistake in referring to himself as one of the subjects of the song. Covering up smoothly, he transferred back to the original narrative style of the piece, a slight crease in his brow the only sign of his acknowledging that he let something slip unintentionally.

"Her smile was his sunlight.

Living without her

Seemed impossible-

A hell he couldn't go back to."

Sarah was reminded of words now, half-forgotten, that had lain inside her memory all these years. _'Live without the sunlight- Love without your heartbeat-'_ "Yes," she breathed, "I remember. It seems like it was all a dream, but it wasn't, was it? It was real. Your feelings, my feelings, were all real. Even if I denied them, denied my heart, denied you..."

"Curse that hour

When you left me

You were so cruel

As I could be."

"The thirteenth hour," Sarah whispered. _Thirteen-o-clock, when the game ended. When I left...forever. I was so childish, selfish- cruel... 'Your eyes can be so cruel- just as I can be so cruel-' I remember that, now, too, and I think I finally understand. But that wasn't all. There was more. There was more! 'But I believe in you- yes, I do-' You believed in me, that someday I'd come back... that I'd realize I want to come back... I didn't want to leave, you see- I didn't understand at all- I was only a child then, and so foolish. I had to finish the thing properly... but I screwed it up again, didn't I? Maybe Karen was right. Maybe I can't do anything right..._

"She learned, but not what he wanted.

Some ways she didn't learn at all...

You've grown so much, so fast-

Learning to give up dreams

In exchange for power."

__

No! I will find you somehow, and tell you how I feel... what I've learned... that it wasn't a dream. I learned, oh yes, I learned- learned that love is pain, dreams are only broken and in the end, all that matters is power. 'You have no power over me!' The biggest lie of all. You still hold power over me, even now. Otherwise I wouldn't be here, wouldn't stay spellbound by a voice that sounds so familiar...but I don't believe in miracles. Not anymore. Love doesn't exist. He changed from 'she' to 'you' again, she noted with more than a slight curiosity. 

"She doesn't value love,

Not anymore."

__

I will finish this. I will finish what I started. I have to try. Have to! Even if it means you don't- come... "Hoggle," she whispered. "Ludo." 

"When did I hurt you

That I deserved

This hell I've been through,

A nightmare without you, _Sarah-_"

Again, that whisper. Her name. "Sir Didymus!" She continued, increasing in volume. No one seemed to notice, oddly enough. _Who called me? I must have put you through as much hell as I've been through... it's been a long four years. A nightmare, in fact. And I keep wishing I'll wake up in your arms- but wishes don't come true, do they? To prove it, I'll say it. Say the name. True Name. It won't work. You'll hate me. You hold so much power over me... but you won't come. Oh, but I wish you would! Hear me. Hear me, if you still can. If you're still willing- do you still feel the same way I realize now that I do? Do you still see the sad love, deep in my eyes?_

"Since I can't live within you-

But I can't live without you..."

Sarah dared, on those final words, bordering on a confession, to finally look up into his eyes. Mismatched blue met her own. He casually pulled a crescent moon pendant out from under his shirt and locked eyes with her. Instantly, she knew. _It's Him... He's back..._ _it was real, then, all of it! JARETH!! _Her mind screamed the name she hadn't dared utter or even think in four tortured long years, willing him to stay with all her might. The clock was striking thirteen. _Thirteen... don't disappear again, Jareth. I don't think I could handle it if this was all another illusion.. _The spell he had on the audience was broken. The crowd started screaming for more, for an encore. "Perhaps another time," he murmured, bowing slightly from the waist and stepping down off the stage. He snapped his fingers, and, as if on cue, a slow dance began to play. A slow dance that was none other than 'As the World Falls Down'. Jareth moved across the floor, seeming almost to float, parting the crowd. Suddenly, he was gone. Her eyes scanned the crowd for him, but he was nowhere in sight. "Where did-" She suddenly felt a pair of arms encircling her waist. 

"I'm right here, Sarah. May I have this dance?" She reluctantly removed herself from his grip, and turned to face him. 

"Jareth-" she said the name, half in shock, half disbelieving. _God, that felt good to say. _

"I can see you don't believe I'm actually here. I can prove to you I'm quite real, if need be." A gloved finger traced her lips. Black leather, so soft. He cupped her face in his hand, taking in her every feature. Memorizing her face. "Do you remember this, Sarah?" He swept her off her feet and danced with her, in the waltz they had done in the masquerade. He took her hand and placed it on his chest, letting her feel his heart pounding wildly through the thin material of his shirt. He gathered her close, and held her tightly to him. She could feel the electricity racing through her as well as through him; the flood of feelings that she hadn't understood the first time, but did now and left her dizzy and breathless when she pulled away.

"Your heart is beating so fast..."

"Yes. You see? I'm real. Now do you believe me?"

"Jareth, I- these four years have been hell for me, too. I can't... I can't live without you." She swallowed, and drew a breath, looking into his eyes, pleading. "I missed you. Desperately. You are the reason I kept living for four years. Memories of you kept me alive. I realize that now. If you hate me I don't blame you- you have every reason to, after-" 

"Have you not been listening to my song? Sarah, how could I ever hate you? I have always loved you, from the very beginning. I have been living these four years in the hope that one day, you might call my name and I could return to your side. I need you, Sarah."

"I was so afraid- that's why I didn't call... I wanted to, but I was so afraid you'd hate me, or you wouldn't, couldn't come..." She buried her face in his chest, and he let her cry, rocking her in his arms. He held her fiercely, protectively, slowly tilted her chin up. Sarah looked deep into his eyes. "Do you still see it, Jareth? Is the sad love still there?"

"I see it, my love, but it is no longer sad. For you are no longer a child- but I am the same as when you first met me, Sarah. I will not change who I am, not even for you. I can be cruel, Sarah, and I am dark. Are you prepared for that? Can you love one such as me?"

"You hold such power over me... I fear ever being apart from you again. With all my being, willingly I surrender my soul to you. Take my heart- it is yours. It has always been yours. I am your slave, for how could I refuse you anything? Give me a command; I will do as you say. You have only to say the word, and anything you want will be yours. I wonder, what will you ask of me?"

"Only this." He bent his head down, and kissed her. The club called Labyrinth shimmered and faded, as though it had never been there at all. Which, it hadn't. When Sarah opened her eyes, clinging to Jareth for dear life as he was the only thing that anchored her to reality in a spinning, sensation-filled world, she saw the dimly lit ballroom surrounding her. They were, she found, sitting on a cushioned couch. She had to break away from him at last, for air. She sighed and relaxed against him, a smile on her face. _This_, she thought, _for this I was born. Here, with you, I belong. For all eternity, I belong only to you. For now, forever, and for always, know this: _

"I love you, Jareth," she whispered against him. 

"I know," he whispered back. "But say it again anyway_._"

"I love you, Jare-," she started to repeat, but he cut her off with another kiss. She snuggled closer to him on the couch, returning and deepening the kiss. _Now, at last, I am finally home._

~The Beginning~


End file.
